The Foley catheter is a catheter device usually made out of elastomeric material, which is for urine drainage and which is installed with its distal end in the bladder of the patient. When the distal end of the catheter has been advanced into the bladder, sterile water is caused to flow along a lumen from the proximal to the distal end of the catheter, there to fill a balloon at the distal end of the catheter. This balloon retains the distal end of the catheter in the bladder and allows a second lumen in the catheter shaft, open to the bladder at the distal end of the shaft, to drain urine from the bladder to the proximal end of the catheter.
In a pre-filled Foley catheter, the device includes a reservoir of sterile water in the proximal end of the device, and a clip over the shaft of the catheter at its proximal end, which clip prevents the sterile water from flowing from the distended reservoir bulb along the lumen to the distal end of the catheter. The person placing the catheter is required to hold the catheter in the desired disposition relative to the body of the patient, and then remove the clip and squeeze the reservoir bulb, in order to inflate the balloon. It would be desirable to provide an improved device for preventing fluid flow from the reservoir to the balloon until it is desired to do so. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,275,001 and 3,675,658 disclose the use of internal plugs instead of clips.
Achievement of a satisfactory shelf-life for pre-filled Foley catheters has proved to be a challenge. Common elastomeric material, such as latex, is not entirely impermeable to the passage of water. Accordingly, the water in the distended bulb reservoir of elastomeric material can escape through the wall, given enough time. In order to achieve a satisfactory shelf-life (18 to 24 months) it has been proposed to cover the outside of the reservoir bulb with a coating of material more resistant to passage of water than latex. Nevertheless, residual problems remain, some of which are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,226.
One such problem is that the coating tends to crack. This reduces the resistance to escape of water and can adversely affect appearance. Another problem is to achieve satisfactory continuity of the coating around the clip at the distal end of the bulb, and the customary filler valve at the proximal end of the bulb. Even then, there is potential for water to escape from the bulb by flowing lengthways along the elastomeric material of the wall of the bulb, until it has passed the distal and proximal ends of the waterproof coating material.
The thickness of latex catheters made by a conventional dipping process is always liable to vary, and this variation can prejudice the goal of reliable sealing with an external moulded clip. With a conventional U-shaped one-piece clip, and latex walls of uncertain thickness, there is some potential for the clip to damage the latex lumen wall.